America

Has WWIII already begun in Iraq and Syria? That is the question many mainstream media outlets have begun asking. According to Reuters journalist Van Buren: “There can be no more wordplay: America now has boots on the ground in Iraq.” Reuters reports: The regional picture is dismal. In Syria, militias backed by the Central Intelligence Agency are fighting those backed by the Pentagon. British, Jordanian and American special forces are fighting various enemies in Libya, which, as a failed state, is little more than a nascent Iraq likely to metastasize in its neighbors.

There was a time not too long ago when, had this Guardian story been written as is for a major media outlet, it would not have been published because it would have been seen as aiding and abetting the cause of the Religious Right (by feeding prejudice). Times have changed. Vice is a virtue, and debauchery is now liberation of a politically advantageous kind. Arwa Madhawi reports from Dinah Shore Weekend in Palm Springs, California. Excerpts:

I am trying to find a neutral description of what the religious liberty bill the Mississippi governor just signed into law would and would not do. The Washington Post said:

It is the first law to prohibit state government from taking any discriminatory action against a person, religious organization, business or government employee for refusing services to LGBT people because of “sincerely held religious beliefs” or “moral conviction” against same-sex marriage, extra-marital sex and/or transgender people.

• Stocks up as investors look to end bruising week on a high (Reuters)
• Treasuries Set for Two-Week Gain; Greenspan Warns of Global Risk (BBG)
• Yellen, alongside Fed alum, says rate hikes on track (Reuters)
• Oil Prices Lifted by Fed Comments on U.S. Economy (WSJ)
• China says G20 summit should be about economics, not politics (Reuters)
• Cameron Accused of Hypocrisy for Stake in Father's Offshore Fund (BBG)
• US government to challenge MetLife ‘too big to fail’ decision (FT)

A Kremlin report released this week has revealed that the Obama administration have allowed at least 13 top ISIS commanders to enter the United States posing as immigrants in order to prevent Russian troops from capturing them. Russia have accused the U.S. of protecting their “assets” in a move that has been likened to Operation Paperclip during World War 2 – in which over 1,500 Nazi war criminals were allowed to secretly enter the United States.